The Jackson County Panthers finally snapped an eight game slide last week with a victory over the Stephens County Indians this past Saturday.
The Panthers hope to carry the momentum of that win into the last four regular season games. They will travel Friday night to Oconee County to face the Warriors.
Oconee enters the week 2-6 in the region and 7-10 overall. They won in their last meeting with the Panthers, 55-40, back on Jan. 15.
Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
Franklin Co.
The Panthers started their week off with a home stand against the Lions of Franklin County last Tuesday.
Jackson County took control of what promised to be a close game early on, putting themselves up by one, 7-6, by the end of the first quarter. They stretched out their lead over the Lions in the second quarter to a four-point advantage, leading 15-11 going into the half.
But in the third quarter, the wheels came off for Jackson County. They were held to only three points over the course of the next eight minutes while Franklin County piled on 23 points to take a 34-18 lead by the end of the quarter. The Panthers were able to regain a little of their momentum in the fourth quarter, but not enough to mount a serious challenge as the Lions went on to win 43-30.
Nick Oney led the Panthers in scoring with 11 points. Joseph Smith scored eight.
“As you can see, we fell apart in the third quarter,” said coach Britt Beaver. “We knew they would be bringing pressure and yet we did not handle it well despite being well prepared. We had a lot of open looks, but could not make shots.”
Stephens Co.
Up next was a Friday night matchup in Jefferson, as the Panthers played host to the Indians of Stephens County.
Jackson County took control of the game in a big way in the first quarter, holding the Indians to seven points while they put 20 marks on the board to take a 20-7 lead at the end of the quarter. Stephens County came to life in the second quarter, and began slashing the Panthers lead, moving to within seven points as Jackson County took a 30-23 lead into the half.
The Panthers again took control in the third quarter, moving out to a 12-point advantage, 47-35, by the end of the quarter. They continued their drive in the fourth quarter, adding 25 points to their total to come away with a 72-57 victory.
Joseph Smith led in scoring with 27 points. Alex Crawford scored 15 points and had five assists. Jonathan Holton scored 10 points and had 14 rebounds. Juice Harrison scored nine points and had 10 rebounds.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald or The Braselton News.
